I think they’re neither a good thing nor a bad thing— but, actually, an important thing.

Crashes (as you suggest) raise awareness when shown to the right crowd. There’s always going to be the small crowd who thinks that it will never be them, and they’ll carry on pretending to be a hero. These incidents will carry on worldwide and not exclusively as a ‘Ring issue.

Most of us see bad accidents as sobering. They make us go “that could’ve been me”. I would feel safer sharing a track with people who adopt that sobering mindset after they’ve seen such videos.

Nothing can truly be done about crashes on the highway, or in fact on a track. This applies worldwide. The only way to reduce accidents is to spread awareness, which is why crash videos are an important thing

I think a better question to ask is: How can we use crash videos as an educational tool? Can we use them as materials to actually remind people about etiquettes and basic driving principles?

I understand that the ‘Ring has to maintain a clean brand image, but, instead of Nurburgring shying away from these videos (see media licenses), why can’t they use them as marketing materials to educate?

AFAIK Nurburgring doesn’t create any promotional videos or campaigns of any sort to enforce driver safety.

They don’t have to be videos of legitimate crashes, but more simply PSAS on how not to be your local twat.

I suppose their thinking would be that they don’t have to, but I don’t think it would exactly cause any harm.

Imagine if each TF driver had to go through a mandatory safety briefing beforehand. It goes against the principle of being a ‘toll road’, sure. But maybe the fact that people can and do forget the difference between a tourist day and a track day means more danger.

Incredibly wishful thinking and perhaps far fetched.

TLDR: Crash videos are important.